Anger Management
by BabyyD0ll
Summary: Charlie and Renee never got divorced, they stayed together for Bella. Weeks before her 17th birthday, Renee flees, unable to stand another minute trapped in the life she never wanted. A year later, what will happen when an angry Bella is forced by her worried boyfriend and father to attend group anger management? Paul/Bella starts at Bella/Edward M just to be safe.


Disclaimer: I own nothing of the twilight franchise or its characters *le sigh* but a girl can dream?

AN: possible character personality tweaks, we'll see how this rolls out.

Chapter one: Fight or Flight

BPOV

 _*Flashback*_

 _*BOOM*_

 _The sound of my parent's door slamming not ten feet from my own jolted me from my peaceful sleep. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I sat up slowly, my heart pounding for reasons unknown to me. Instinct told me I was better off ignoring the impending argument; they had them so often now, it almost felt normal._

 _Hushed whispers flittered their way beneath my door to my ears, while I would normally be relieved that they were not outright screaming, something pulled me up silently from my bed and toward my shut bedroom door. Carefully, I leaned closer to the door to listen._

 _"Renee! You need to at least stay till morning, what will I tell Bella?!" Tell me what? Where was she going, had something happened in the family?_

 _"I just- I can't..." there was a pause, before my mother's voice was so low I almost didn't think I had heard her correctly."_ _ **I don't know**_ _Charlie... tell her the truth. We both knew this would happen eventually, I'm not good with-"_

 _"With goodbyes, I know Renee I've known you twenty years. I just figured your_ _ **daughter**_ _, of all people, deserved to know the reason why tomorrow she's waking up to her mother … just_ _ **gone**_ _."_

 _At this point my heart was thudding so hard in my chest I was worried that they could hear it outside in the hallway. She... she as leaving? I heard another thud, and with a sudden shock I realized it was MY door, I had thrown it open and was now staring wide eyed at my parents; they in turn had their own horror stricken faces cast anywhere but at me._

 _"where are you going mom?" my eyes had drifted down to the large suitcase by her tennis shoe clad feet, but I couldn't bring myself to tear my eyes away from it as I listened to them shuffle uncomfortably before my mother softly sighed._

 _"Bella, Baby… Momma... Momma can't stay here anymore." She hadn't called herself momma since I was four. My eyes immediately shot to her face, the tears were rolling fatly down her cheeks, and when our eyes met she had dropped them to the suitcase I had been staring at._

 _"You weren't going to tell Me." it wasn't a question; I had caught her red handed. I couldn't believe how calmly I was speaking with my mother, but I had noticed the slight trembling of my hands. They hung limply at my side, I fisted them to hide the trembling; which only worsened at the fact that she hadn't yet answered._

 _we three stood in a triangle at the top of the stairs the silence thundering in my ears so loud that the floor began swimming beneath my feet, I was vaguely aware of my dad staring at me, I could feel him searching for something to say to end the silence._

 _Luckily for him, the honking of a car outside did it for him. We all jumped, but no one more than mom, my eyes moved from her face, to the front door that was visible from the top of the stairs._

 _It was already open._

 _In the few seconds it had taken me to realize this, my mother- tears still falling as fast as the rain that usually fell heavily here- had picked up her suitcase and began to descend the stairs._

 _"Mom-"_

 _Renee-" my father began, each of us stepping forward as she reached the landing and turned to stare at us._

 _we broke off from what we had been about to say at the look in her eyes- fear, sadness, maybe even a little thrill- her curly hair as wild as her expression. She reminded me of a cornered animal for a moment; which was exactly what my mother was in some ways. I realized suddenly that like any animal that was corned, she was choosing. Fight or flight._

 _She was cornered by the life she hadn't wanted, trapped in a small town she despised. Her only options? Stay and fight to make a life she wanted... or flight._

 _I stepped forward once more as she took a step back, my throat suddenly thick with tears "Momma-" I had started again, but the words never came. They were lost to my mother anyways as I saw the sad resolve form in her eyes, she had chosen._

 _Flight._

 _*End Flashback*_


End file.
